A Birthday Ballade for Anthony Hecht

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Full view of “A Birthday Ballade for Anthony Hecht.”

This broadside was printed letterpress in an edition of 225 as part of the 80^th birthday celebrations for poet Anthony Hecht at the West Chester University Poetry Conference in 2003. Richard Wilbur’s playful and affectionate tribute is written as a ballade, a French medieval form that was often set to music (note the refrain at the end of each stanza). Wilbur’s dexterous use of rhyme and meter in this ballade is itself a tribute to Hecht, who was known for his erudition, his interest in music, and his fluency in formal verse.

Richard Wilbur. “A Birthday Ballade for Anthony Hecht.” West Chester, Pennsylvania: Aralia Press, 2003.

Detail of the title of “A Birthday Ballade for Anthony Hecht,” printed in purple ink.

Colophon of “A Birthday Ballade for Anthony Hecht.”